Mark (Program #9) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (4)

By the time Jesus was ready to begin His earthly ministry, a well established God ordained religious system was firmly entrenched in the land of Palestine.  But as the very God Himself who was the fulfillment and reality of all of the components of that established religion you would think that He would had taken a great care to approach the leaders of that religion and to bring them into His ministry.

But the record of the New Testament reveals quite the opposite.  The gospels, in particularly the gospel of Mark revealed that Jesus showed no interest in maintaining the old religion with its’ traditions and rituals.  Even those were among the ones that God had originally instituted such as the Sabbath.

Rather, Jesus  offended the religious community to the uttermost by breaking the Sabbath regulation repeatedly and revealing that as the Lord of the Sabbath He was well within His authority to use the Sabbath to care for His people instead of as a  religious fetter to bind them and even to kill them.

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Mark (Program #8) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (3)

After opening with the clear picture of meaning and contents of the glad tidings of the gospel. The book of Mark then give us the 5 cases in which the Lord Jesus carries out the gospel in His dealing with so many fallen people. The first of these cases involved a paralytic man who not only received healing from the Lord, but even more importantly at least in its’ significance was the forgiveness of sins.  We then had the case of a saved sinners, Matthew, the tax collector preparing a feast for His Savior and for many of His friends. This case was a case of enjoyment.

Three additional cases followed in chapter 2, and the first part of chapter 3. Each one depicting the carrying out of His gospel service. A gospel not only of forgiveness and of enjoyment but of joy, of satisfaction and freedom as well.

We come to another enjoyable, joy-filled, satisfying and liberating message from this life study of Mark.

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Mark (Program #7) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (2)

Mark chapter 2 gives us the account of the Lord Jesus as the Slave-Savior carrying out His gospel service to care for the need of fallen people. It’s a marvelous chapter that shows us 5 cases or incidents, each one demonstrating this loving care in a particular way meeting the need of all manner of weak, sick and sinful people.

What a picture of the glad tidings being lived out in their midst!  Of course, not all the people are eager and happy to see such a manifestation of the reality and the enjoyment of God.  The scribes and the pharisees, the self-righteous and religious among the people were indignant that their own the authority and their time on the traditions were completely ignored by the Lord Jesus.  For as He Himself told them, “those who were strong have no need of a physician but those who are ill. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.“

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Mark (Program #6) – The Ways the Slave-Savior Carried Out His Gospel Service (1)

The gospel of Mark is unique in many ways among the four gospel accounts of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus on the earth. One of the unique aspects of Mark, is that, it is arranged according to the actual historical sequence of events. Well, this can make it more difficult to study and understand but the divine and sovereign arrangement is really quite marvelous.

Chapter 1 for example, presents us with the complete contains of the gospel.  And chapter 2 follows then with 5 cases illustrate how the Lord Jesus as the slave savior carry out the gospel in His service to all the weak, hungry and needy people.  The first of these 5 cases is a really marvelous account that when understood correctly open the way for all us, fallen sinners to enter into the rich gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Mark (Program #5) – The Contents of the Slave-Savior’s Gospel Service (1) & (2)

The book of Mark opens with these words, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” It then reveals that this gospel is really the fulfillment of the types, the promises and the prophesies of the Old Testament. Along with the removal of the custody of the law. But Mark chapter 1 goes further because it shows us not what just the gospel is but the content of the gospel. This gospel is not something vague but rich in its’ details.  And in this chapter, chapter 1 which is divided into 5 sections. We see the rich content of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

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Mark (Program #4) – The Beginning of the Gospel and the Initiation of the Slave-Savior (2)

Each of the four gospels is unique in how it begins.  The gospel of John begins with Jesus Christ in eternity past.  Matthew began with the generations of Jesus Christ the Son of David, the king.  Luke also presents us with the genealogy but not in the line of the kingship.  Luke’s introduction shows us Jesus as the genuine and proper man.

Mark on the other hand does not begin with any reference to the origin of the man, Jesus. Rather it begins this way. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,” Notice is not the gospel of Jesus or the gospel of the Son of God. But the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is a marvelous beginning to Mark’s gospel because it highlights both His divinity as well as His humanity.

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Mark (Program #3) – The Beginning of the Gospel and the Initiation of the Slave-Savior (1)

Matthew, Luke and John all begin one way or another with the origin of Jesus Christ.  Matthew shows us His kingly genealogy.  Luke, His human genealogy.  And John, His divine, eternal origin as the Son of God.  But Mark begins not with the genealogy rather with the gospel. “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.”  What is the gospel?  Well, Roman tells us that the gospel is the glad tidings, the good news. The reality of that good news is Jesus Christ our savior. And as Mark shows us the slave of God serving His people.

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Mark (Program #2) – A Word of Introduction (2)

Many people wonder why the Bible gives us four historical accounts of the life and ministry in Jesus. One of reasons is the each of the four gospels portrays Christ in a unique aspect.  For example, Matthew a book on the kingdom of God reveals Christ in His kingship. Luke shows us Christ’s perfect and upright humanity as a genuine man.  John on the other hand stresses the eternal, uncreated life of God as it is revealed in Christ. John is the gospel of Christ’s divinity.

Then what about Mark?  Well, chapter 10:45 gives us a clue,  “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark is wonderful in that it uniquely reveals that Christ lay aside His kingship, His status as God and even His position as a high and honored man to become God’s servant and eventually to become a slave to all mankind giving His life as a ransom for many.

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Mark (Program #1) – A Word of Introduction (1)

It’s very interesting to pay attention to how each of the four gospels begin.  Matthew, a gospel that focuses on the kingdom, begins with the long genealogy of Christ, demonstrating that He is the bonafide heir of David the king.  Luke, on the other hand also shows us the genealogy but not that of a king, rather it’s a genealogy of a proper and upright man.  The gospel of John begins in a much different way – “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.”  John is the gospel that reveals Christ’s divinity.

But what about the gospel of Mark?   Mark has no genealogy what so ever. Because Mark is the gospel revealing not just the humanity of Jesus, but that in His humanity Jesus Christ took the position of a slave. And He came to us a Slave-Savior.

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Psalms (Program #10) – What Kind of Man May Dwell with God for His Heart’s Desire and Good Pleasure?

In the gospel of Mark in chapter 8, there’s a marvelous account of the Lord Jesus healing a blind man. After laying hands on the man, the Lord asked him if he could see anything. The man responded by saying that he could see man, but as trees walking. Well, his sight was partially restored but not yet cleared. So the Lord touched his eyes again and this time the Bible says, ‘And he began to see all things clearly’. This is how we are in our spiritual seeing. We need the Lord’s continual touch and healing of our spiritual eyes, especially when we come to His word. Take a book like Psalms. It’s quite easy to see something on the surface, but do we see all things clearly? Do we see Christ unveiled, magnified and exalted? Lord be merciful to us all, touch our seeing again and again.

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